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Trump won in Haley's stronghold by a landslide... Republican presidential candidate has been confirmed, Why is Trump popular among Republican candidates?
Gstory 2024. 2. 26. 11:13목차
Former U.S. President Donald Trump won a landslide victory over former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in the primary (primary race) of South Carolina, which will select Republican candidates for the U.S. presidential election in November. Starting with the Iowa caucuses on the 15th of last month, Trump has won five consecutive elections, following New Hampshire, Nevada and Virgin Island. Although some say that Trump has virtually confirmed his qualification as the Republican presidential candidate, Haley said she would continue the primary race. The U.S. selects presidential candidates of both Democratic and Republican parties in either the primary or caucus method.
Trump won 59.8 percent of the votes (based on 99 percent of the votes) in the Republican primary race in South Carolina on Monday, 20.3 percentage points ahead of Haley (39.5 percent). U.S. media outlets including The New York Times predicted Trump's victory based on exit polls just two minutes after the voting ended. Trump won overwhelming support from rural areas, low-income families, high school graduates and under, and evangelical Christian voters. "I have never seen a Republican Party this united before, " Trump said in his victory speech at the election headquarters in South Carolina just five minutes after the vote count began. "We will also win the presidential election on November 5, " Trump said. "I will look into Biden's eyes and say, 'You're fired.'" Trump did not mention Haley at all in his speech. U.S. media outlets analyzed that Trump's strategy is to focus on the presidential race between himself and Biden.
Like him or not, he's back.
As former U.S. President Donald Trump also won the New Hampshire primary, observers say that the 2024 Republican presidential candidate has been virtually confirmed.
Trump beat his last remaining rival, former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.
Although he did not win as well as predicted in recent polls, it would be enough to maintain the current trend considering he won a landslide victory in the previous Iowa caucuses.
In Iowa, Trump received more votes than all of the remaining primary candidates combined, and all but one of the remaining primary candidates, including Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie, have since abruptly resigned from their posts.
As they all resigned before the New Hampshire primary, the New Hampshire primary became a showdown between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.
The race to the 60th U.S. presidency is still in its infancy, but the victory in Iowa's primary is a sign of Trump's continued popularity in the Republican Party.
Then we looked at some of the reasons why candidate Trump is popular.
Economy
Asked why he wants Trump to return, a Trump supporter in Iowa expressed expectations that "Trump will revive the economy and lower natural gas [price]."
And this is not just the opinion of the individual supporters. Trump is putting the economy forward as an important message in this election.
"The people want the prosperity and power of this country," second son Eric Trump said on BBC podcast "The Amaricast."
"When my father was president, the country enjoyed one of the strongest economies in its history, along with the lowest unemployment, inflation and oil prices."
It is true that the U.S. economy was in good shape during Trump's presidency before the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, there were times when the US economy was much stronger as part of a trend that began under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Since then, the US economy has suffered a record-high contraction due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
While it is true that the war in Ukraine caused energy costs to soar and inflation to hit a 40-year high during current President Joe Biden's presidency, it is now mostly down, and the economy is also performing better than last year's expectations.
Trump VS Biden
Mark Rotter, who worked as communications director for the 2020 Trump campaign, argued that comparing Trump and current President Biden's performance alone has an advantage for Trump.
"The only thing Biden doesn't have in 2020 is performance," Rotter told the BBC, adding, "Now Biden has performance, but the people don't really like what he's achieved."
Billy Blatras, who identified himself as a Trump supporter, described Trump as a "dynamic (dynamic) supporter."
"We've seen what Trump did in his first term. We want to come back. We're watching our country decline during Biden's term."
"We want enthusiastic support for the American people that Trump brought in when he was the owner of the White House."
Another Trump supporter who met in Iowa described Trump's political background as well as his background as a businessman and celebrity as important factors.
"The country doesn't have to be run by politicians. I think the best candidate is someone who knows how to run a business."
Furthermore, many Republican Party supporters believe that Trump's unique personality contrasts sharply with that of President Biden. President Biden earned the derisive nickname "Sleepy Group" after he was caught dozing off at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26).
A rematch between him and Trump is becoming more certain as incumbent President Joe Biden is likely to become the Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidential election scheduled for November.
Of course, the last head-to-head match ended with Biden's victory.
Immigrant Issues and Trump's 'immigrant, US Blood Pollution' Remarks
In an interview with the right-wing "National Pulse" in October last year, former President Trump said immigrants were "contaminating the blood of the United States." In response, President Biden criticized the words, saying they would be used by Nazi Germany.
"Candidate Trump says that if he comes back to the White House, he will go after those who oppose him and those who he calls "the pests of America."
According to White House records, President Biden responded to Trump's remarks, saying, "It reminds me of what Nazi Germany used to say in the 1930s, " and "Not even the first time."
Historians and experts who study Nazi Germany's propaganda also told the BBC that President Biden's comparison was accurate. Ann Berg, who studies history at the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S., said, "These remarks are not just what we heard during Nazi Germany, but what they actually did, " referring to the case of attacking political rivals when the Nazis actually took power.
However, a CBS poll in the U.S. found that Republican supporters supported his remarks.
CBS asked registered Republican voters in two ways whether they agree or disagree with Trump's remarks. Half of the respondents were asked if they agree with the statement that "contaminates the blood of the United States," and the other half said that former President Trump was the one who made the remarks.
Either way, most Republican voters said they agreed. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they agreed with Trump's remarks, while 82 percent said they agreed with Trump's remarks.
This is where one can guess that Trump's idea of immigrants continues to be valid for supporters.
A rise in the support of young voters
Meanwhile, a recent poll shows that Trump is slightly ahead of President Biden in terms of support among young voters. In a poll released in mid-December last year by The New York Times and Siena College, voters aged 18 to 29 who support Trump were 6 percentage points higher than those who support Biden.
Details of this trend are still subject to expert discussion, but they are clearly different from back in 2020. At that time, 24% more voters in that age group said they supported Biden.
While Trump's popularity may have increased, young people are unhappy with the way President Biden is currently handling the Israel-Hamas war, and it can also be explained as a result of President Biden's failure to connect with young voters.
However, Mary Weston, who represents a young Iowa Republican, told the BBC, "I am in awe of the way Trump introduces himself and the way he speaks," claiming that young Republicans are most drawn to the power he shows on stage.
Weston, a high school student when Trump was president and now 23, said he was "scoffed and bullied" for supporting Trump, but explained that Trump's "not backing down on the values he believes in himself" and "not afraid to be who he wants to be" attracts the hearts of young voters.
Trump has also now faced several charges, "Many supporters want to fight for him. I want to prove to the Democrats that we will support Trump as always."
A court case in what appears to be 'political persecution'
Currently, candidate Trump has been criminally charged four times, and there are several trials to attend this year, which will run toward the presidential election.
First of all, he was not only embroiled in a lawsuit in New York, but was also indicted by state and federal prosecutors in Georgia, Florida, Manhattan, New York, and Washington.
In addition, several states are now suing Trump to disqualify him because he participated in the insurrection during the U.S. Capitol riot three years ago.
You might expect these court cases to lead to a drop in support, but Frank Lance, a well-known pollster, told the BBC that these court cases are rather helping Trump's cause.
"Trump emphasizes that he is a victim," Lance said. "He is being persecuted, not prosecuted, and this is a witch hunt."
"Every time Trump is charged, his approval rating is going up. Even though he's disqualified from running for president in Maine and Colorado, his approval rating is going up. Every time his opponent targets Trump, he takes advantage of it. There's never been a person like this in America."
However, it is noteworthy that even after Trump's victory, according to Fox News' voter analysis data, 32% of voters who participated in the New Hampshire Republican primary will not vote for Trump in the November presidential election.
Trump's last remaining rival, Nikki Haley, is also preparing for the next primary in South Carolina on Feb. 24, as she says she will not give up until the end.
Haley, who reportedly spent tens of millions of dollars in the lost primary and needed campaign donations to continue the race, also had an option to resign.
It seems highly likely that Trump will be nominated for the Republican nomination in this year's U.S. presidential election thanks to his staunch and loyal supporters, as BBC North American correspondent Anthony Jutcher said, "The Republican Party is still Donald Trump's party."
"I'm a 'political dissident'" at Trump's CPAC
"I stand before you today not only as your past and future president, but also as a proud political dissident, " Trump said as a speaker on the last day of the Republican Party's annual CPAC convention held at the Gailod Convention Center in Maryland. "Voting for me is a ticket back to freedom and a passport to escape tyranny."
The crowd cheered when Trump said, "November 5 will be a new day of liberation for hard-working Americans," adding, "But it will be a day of judgment for liars, frauds, censors and fraudsters who control the U.S. government." The New York Times said, "Trump focused on the general election race between himself and President Biden without mentioning his rival Nikki Haley at all in his speech."